The 3 Family Commandments
Notes
Transcript
Previously
Previously
The 3 God Commandments
How Eve’s was made uniquely and how were motherly instincts played a part, .
Women and Family were part of the Original Plan.
Today
Today
The First of the The 3 Family Commandments
Text for today
Text for today
Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Divine Structure of the Commandments
Divine Structure of the Commandments
The esclating level of difficulty structure
3 For God as our foundation
3 For Family as our earthly foundation
2 for our conduct to our neighbours
1 for our speach
1 for our hearts
5 vertical based on the 5th vs 5 horizontal based on the 10th
Visit, bring name into disrepute, raise other people above your parents, deny their existance as your personal creator.
The Sabbath Commandment
The Sabbath Commandment
Of all 10, there are only 2 positive commandments that tell us what TO DO, instead of what NOT TO DO. This is the first one.
Exodus 20:8–11 ““Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
Sabbath, Means to Rest or to stop/pause.
Break it down
Break it down
What does it mean to remember?
How to keep it holy?
When is the Sabbath Day and God’s reason knew why?
Summary How When to Sabbath?
Challenge
Remember
Remember
Remember: Goes Backward and Forward.
How do you tell someone to remember something they do not know. So they must know about it or something about it already.
Then it also goes forward as a commandment to keep commemorating it.
On the backward side, Remember: This is not new, it is recall. Already known.
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’ ”
On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.
On the Forward side, it means keep remembering this day, keep resting, keep keeping this day holy.
Sadly, for many christians, there are 9 commandments, not 10. Because Friday night to Saturday Night is not about God or Family, it is when the Devil comes out to play.
Leads me to the next point. How to keep it Holy.
How to keep it Holy
How to keep it Holy
Holy means to set apart and lift it up to the divine or pure.
As a Holy Sabbath to the Lord, at most basic level, it is different from the ordinary day.
Children sing Manisthana… Which means Why is this night different from all other nights.
Firstly, the same should true of Friday nights and Saturday. It must be clearly different and purer than other days. \
Secondly, Rest and pause from work and play or creative activities. This goes for everyone, your Family, your Workers, your Animals, and the Visitors/foreigners.
Third, Remember God's creation narrative. Emphasize that the universe was created by him and not by chance. Like God appreciated his work, also appreciate your work.
It's is a confession on action, not just by words, but by our actions that we are in God's image. Coz we do life he does. 6 work. 1 day rest.
Fourthly, . Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. Stay home with family.
Avoid Sin.
If you went to many christian homes on a Friday night, how would I know it is Sabbath, set apart from other days? If you cannot, it’s time to make a change.
Remember, that is not supposed to be a burden, but a blessing. Mark 2:27 and this verse. This day is about God, and to God, but it is for you.
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you Holy.
When is the Sabbath Day
When is the Sabbath Day
Before we get into what is the Sabbath and Why, let's deal with the easiest part - When.
Which is perhaps the one thing about the Sabbath that screams out to us that this is from God - not man and not by chance. Dont just focus on the day on which the Sabbath starts but the Time it starts.
For us Westerners, the week ends on a Sunday night and starts on Monday. Sunday is the 7th day. But some still have Saturday as the 7th day.
For us Westerners, the day starts at midnight or at sunrise. midday is middle of the day. 12 hours before day , ante meridian, 12 hours post meridian. So the Sabbath would start at midnight on Saturday/Sunday morning or at sunrise on those days.
For us, our days are named after Scandanavian Gods and based on how bright the Lights in the Sky are Sun, Moon, Mercury(Odin), Jupiter (Zeus/Thor), Venus (Fryer), and Saturn . For them its simply Yom Ekhad , Yom Sheni, Yom Shlishi – Yom Sheviʻi (יום השׁביעי ) .
We have industrial jobs from Monday to Friday, The weekend Starts Friday, after work. . The parties start. The Drinking. The Women. The Temptation, Friday after Sunset.
You see Friday after work is when you most tired, you are weak, you at angry and so it's easiest to lead you into temptation.
The world has changed in a massive way and if the starting time of the Holy Day changed with the world, then it would come too late. If the Holy day started on Saturday morning or Sunday Morning it would come too late. Because you would already be at that party, already drinking, already with the wrong crowd.
The Ancient Israelites had no way of knowing all of this 4000 years ago. But God did. So, God made it so that the 7th day starts at Sunset on a Friday right before the trouble starts.
Things like this make it clear that these commandments are not man made because man 4000 year ago could not have come up with something as strange as a day starting at Sunset.
imagine you got to sleep and wake up, its the same day. But you go to work and come a bit day, and it s a new day.
We eat breakfast, lunch, and supper same day. But then breakfast and lunch are today, Supper at 7 is tomorrow.
We are used to being awake for 1 day and collecting those memories as 1 day. But If I asked you at 8 pm tomorrow, what did you do yesterday?
When I wake up, did i fall asleep last night, or tonight.
Do you see how counter-intuitive and unnatural this is for man today, or even 4000 years ago?
Not unnatural, Supernatural. God knew that if it is not that way, it would not co-incide with Friday afterwork today and then it would be too late to avoid these temptations - freaky Friday would already be underWAY.
Challenge
Challenge
How powerful would we be as a people if we started our weekend with God and Family, instead of with Fun and temptation.
How many drunk nights, How many crimes for lack of a victim?
How would your mindset be different if you worked for 5 days and came home to family on Friday to remind why… You shift your perspective to your purpose rather than escape.
You are tired and weak. How different is your weekend if you start your weekend with God on Friday night and recharge on Sunday morning.
How long would your cultures, language, religion, and traditions last if you set aside a day for them every week. For more than the Jews have kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Jews - 4000 years later, Oppression, Occupation, Persecution, Holocaust… BUT STILL HERE.
So my challenge to you is:
Go Home Friday after work.
Enjoy bread and wine with your family.
Rest for the week’s work and admire it, just like God did.
Appreciate that the day is made for your and your family and that observing this commandment sets you apart from other nations.
Amen
